Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers from around the world which may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers:

De Volkskrant, Amsterdam, Netherlands, on the European Union and Arafat:

The European Union has called on Palestinian leader Arafat to break up the "terrorist networks" Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

Following the United States, Europe has also increased pressure on Arafat.

Just or unjust, Arafat is now considered to be the man who has to take the first step before peace talks can continue. Arafat is still seen as the man who is able to curb Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, although this is getting increasingly difficult.

We can ask Arafat to halt the terror, but on the Israeli side there also must be steps taken to make that possible.

The EU justly points out that Israel has to stop the execution-without-trial of persons who are suspected of terrorist activities. Also, Israel needs to withdraw from Palestinian autonomous areas and has to lift the blockades.

The Independent, London, on the course of the war against terrorism:

The collapse of the odious Taliban regime in Afghanistan is a highly welcome development. However, it is only one part of the so-called war against terrorism. At such moments, when fearful gloom and despondency risk being replaced by premature triumphalism, it is worth recalling the original aims of the war. Osama bin Laden remains free and the real work of winding up al-Qaeda is only beginning.

More importantly, both Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair made a much wider claim for their offensive. This was a war against terrorism across the globe, at the end of which the world would be a safer place. The terrible events in the Middle East show that this is still a distant goal and may even have moved further away. ...

At its worst, such rhetoric provides cover for attacks by other states on their enemies. Israel is now claiming to be fighting its own war against terrorism in response to the Hamas attacks of last week. A response to the atrocities is inevitable, but the Sharon government's decision to use the attacks as an excuse to attempt the fatal undermining of the Palestinian Authority is not. Mr. Bush can hardly complain when he has used the same language to explain his response to September 11. ...

Liberation, Paris, on the Septenber 11 anniversary:

From September 11 to December 11: It is a strong symbol that the American administration — three months after the attacks on New York and Washington — announced the destruction of al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan and the indictment of someone who is said to be the "twentieth man" of the suicide-hijackers, French national Zacarias Moussaoui.

Nevertheless, Donald Rumsfeld has repeated that the war on terrorism is far from over. International terrorism is like the image of Hercules battling the Lernean Hydra: as soon as one head is cut off, more heads grow in its place.

At the same time Bush brandishes a two-edged sword. He has to intensify the financial tracking and policing of terrorist networks. He also has to employ democratisation and economic development to heal wounds poisoned by fanatical Islam.